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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the NT: Herodion
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( Ἡñùäßùí , Westcott-Hort’s Greek Testament Ἡñῳäßùí Rom_16:11, a Greek name, suggesting connexion with the family of the Herods).-Herodion is saluted by St. Paul and is described as ‘my kinsman’ ( ôὸí óõããåíῆ ìïõ ). Other ‘kinsmen’ saluted in Romans 16 are Andronicus and Junias (or Junia) (Rom_16:7), while three ‘kinsmen’ send salutations in Rom_16:21. That St. Paul means that these poisons were relations of his is unlikely. It is this interpretation which has given rise to one of the difficulties felt in deciding the destination of the passage Rom_16:3-20. Almost certainly we should understand ‘fellow-Jews’ or ‘fellow-members of my tribe’ (see Rom_9:5). Lightfoot connects Herodion with ‘the household of Aristobulus’ saluted in the preceding verse. He considers that Aristobulus was a member of the Herodian family, and that his ‘household’ would naturally include many Orientals and Jews, and therefore probably some Christians (Philippians4 1878, p. 175). Of the latter, Herodion may have been one. Others have conjectured that Herodion belonged to ‘the household of Narcissus’ saluted in the verse which follows.
T. B. Allworthy.